Michigan Backyard Journal

Observing & Reporting from our backyard

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Welcome to our backyard

Popular Topics

Latest Dog Posts

  • Eastern Newt Red Eft
    Spring 2022 – Backyard updates
    We holed up this winter and I never really put the cameras out. We were birdfeeding and watching and counting all winter, but we had a lot going on and I just didn’t have the desire to document things here. But, seasons change and spring is back and the winter doldrums are over. Tilda is […]
  • Winter Laziness
    Wondering what we’ve been up to this winter? Basically this!
  • Move for Peace – September Challenge
    I’ve been a supporter of the non-profit organization Preemptive Love Coalition for a number of years. I appreciate the work they do with refugees in Syria and Iraq. I valued the work they were a part of repairing hearts of children in these war torn countries. I also feel that the approaches we (the collective […]

Read more posts about our dogs, Duke & Tilda

Birdwatching Updates

  • Eastern Towhee
    Eastern Towhee & Brown Thrasher
    I’m super excited that we’ve continued to see a pair of each of these around all spring. I’m hoping their nests will be successful. Here’s a couple of pictures I was able to take through the window this week. What birds do you see in the spring and hope they stick around? We had one […]
  • Orchard Oriole on Nectar
    Spring Firsts
    On May 8th we spotted our first Ruby Throated Hummingbirds of the season and were able to capture one on video. We’ve had a few oriole scouts around since the end of April but here’s our first video of the oriole, also from May 8th. Here’s some more firsts!
  • Brown Thrasher in Bird Bath
    Spring bird bath compilation
    It’s been a really dry spring here so the Bird Bath has been a happening spot! Check out this video compilation from our bird batch cam. We put the GoPro out for about 2 hours on 5/14/2022 and these were all of the visitors. The featured photo here is of a Brown Thrasher in our […]

Read more posts about birdwatching

The Toads of our Yard

  • cuddly toads
    A Couple of Toads holed up together
    Well, after the rain happened and there was a little toad party out in the yard, the next morning we found these 2 cuddlebugs. We covered them with a leaf after we took the picture.
  • Evening toad hunt
    MSU is having science fest this month and encouraging citizen science to count our populations of wildlife. It was warm & sunny today and this evening was a good rain. We heard a lot of spring peepers. We saw 5 toads and one tree frog and 2 nightcrawlers. No photos of the nightcrawlers or one […]
  • Toad Pics
    What’s summertime with some toad pics? And, a squirrel raiding the feeder.

Read more posts about toads

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Meet Our Pets

Matilda Wilma

Female Coonhound Mix
Adopted Date: 3/29/2017

We rescued Tilda as she is affectionately known in March of 2017. She was estimated to be a year old at the time. The beginning of her life was tied to a stake in Georgia until moving from shelter to shelter. She’s now got some titles, RATI and RATN and has become a confident, well behaved companion dog.

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Duke

Male Basset Hound
Adopted Date: 1/08/2019
Birth Date: 7/11/2011

We initially fostered Duke through Basset Hound Rescue of Michigan in January of 2019. After a couple of weeks though, we knew he was our forever hound. He was surrendered by his owner. He & Tilda have gotten along well and he fits right in here. He loves squeaky toys, playing fetch and catching treats.

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The Cat

Female Housecat
Rescued Date: June 2013

The cat doesn’t exactly have a name. We call her “Cat” or “Kitty”. At the vet she is known as June, that’s the month she showed up. She just appeared here one day in 2013 and I fed her a can of tuna and then she became my cat. That’s sort of how cats work. She’s a dog trainer. She’s trained all my hounds to get along with a cat.

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Some of our Favorite Bird Pics

  • Juvenile Male Red Winged Blackbird
  • Indigo Bunting
    Indigo Bunting
  • White Breasted Nuthatch
  • Pileated woodpecker
  • Sparrow – Winter chippy maybe?
  • American Goldfinch
  • Northern Cardinal
  • Eastern Towhee
  • Sparrow – White Crested I think
  • Wild Turkey
  • Brown Thrasher
  • American Robin
  • Female Red Bellied woodpecker

In Memory

Remembering our hounds who are waiting for us at the rainbow bridge. Click their names to read all posts about them.

Our first basset hound, our weasel dog. Our first dog together, Steve’s first dog ever. Quincy was the life of this house and yard. She made us feel like a family. She made our house feel like a home. Cancer took her from us far too young. We miss her.

Quincy

Mighty Quincy, Queen of the Ozarks

1/18/2008 – 2/9/2017

Lovingly known as Mr. Chip, this goofy hound was meant to be ours. He suffered his first seizure at 6 months old. battled seizure disorder and later Cushing’s disease. He loved food, treats, and us. He knew he needed us and we needed him. He was a good boy.

Sir Chippington King of the Ozarks

12/18/2009 – 9/4/2018

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Bird Photo Booth Day Two – Improving

Look at these hounds catch!

Funny Sign

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